THE THIRTY YEAR WAR

THE CAMPAIGN OF 1639-1640 AND THE BATTLE OF CHEMNITZ 1639.

In January
the Elbe was crossed and the advance turned towards Erfurt to relieve this
last swedish position in southern Germany. A number of smaller imperial or
saxon corps were disrupted during the advance. BanÚr being ill sent a
number of letters to the duke Bernhard of Weimar who now was in french
service with his army that was in winterquarters in on the German border.
Bernhard had proven to be as unreliable as he was ambitious. He gladly used
his by France paid army to further his own interests. After two years on the
defensive, bombarded by letters from Richelieu demanding and pleading for
offensive actions, he had at last entered Germany by crossing the Rhine and
defeated the imperials at Rheinfelden. He then beieged Breisach that held
until the lack of supplies caused cannibalism among the defenders. After
having eaten rats and cats or boiled leather the poor humans finally ate
eachother including seven captured swedish soldiers. After Breisachs
surrender Bernhard naturally found the notion of continued offensive utterly
impractical and instead claimed that the captured land was his own. No
letter from either BanÚr or Richelieu could make him move.

This was bad news since not only did the reinforcements from Bernhard
fail to materialize. The imperial corps opposite Bernhard could now be used
reinforce the enemy maneuvering against BanÚr! The offensive continued
however. Erfurt was relieved and the army turned against southern
Saxony. In February Zwickau and Chemnitz were seized and with them the
important borderpasses into Bohemia. The next objective was Freiberg. A
medieval city with an obsolete city wall in poor shape. BanÚr was convinced
that it would be over quickly. But he was mistaken. The defenders were
stronger than expected and were helped by the population. The siege was slow
due to difficulty in digging trenches and approches in the frozen
ground. The defenders often counterattacked and disturbed the work. BanÚrs
army moved very quickly for its time but it came with a price. He did not
bring any heavy siege artillery with him (these heavy guns were exteremely
heavy, the barrels often weighed two tons, and demanded plenty of horses or
oxen to bring along) . The guns he had a Freiberg were to weak to blow down
the walls and create a breach. BanÚr demanded that the defenders
surrendered or all would be killed. As was common the reply consisted of
insults, but many of the insults were evidently directed at BanÚr
personally. He became furious and demanded that the enemy commander, a brave
man named von Haugwitz, prohibited the personal insults. Haugwitz refused.

Johan BanÚr

When BanÚr recieved word that enemy reinforcements were approaching
he decided to try an assault. On the 18th of March 1000 men with ladders,
tools, handgrenades and axes stormed towards the walls. The defenders waited
until the swedes were on their way up the ladders before manning the
parapets and unleashed volley after volley at point blanc range. Those who
reached the parapet were quickly killed with rapier, axe and morning star.
Over 500 men were lost in the failed assault. The wounded froze to death
during the night at the base of the wall. Two days later the swedish army
left the miserable "rats nest" as the furious and frustrated
BanÚr called Freiberg. He was forced to meet two enemy forces marching on
his army. With his usual ferocity he force marched his army until cavalrymen
were seen falling of their horses until he met one of the enemy corps at
Chemnitz on the 4th of april. Despite being exhausted the swedes managed to
defeat the imperials in a series of confuced clashes in the close terrain
among ponds and swamps. Many of the enemy fled before having seen action and
the enemies wagon train was captured. The enemy commander, the saxon
fieldmarshal Morzin, escaped but was imprisoned in Prague due to more than
acceptable lack of ability.

In the early summer of 1639 the swedish army entered Bohemia. It was a
land untouched by war for five years. On the 20th of may the swedes stood
outside Prague. A complete turn of the wheel since the year before when the
swedes stood squeezed against the baltic coasts. But the lack of siege guns
made it impossible to do more than fire light rounds with symbolic meaning
only. The enemy hid behind the walls where BanÚr couldnt get them. A
hungarian force that showed up to relieve Prague showed plenty more bravery
than intellegence when they in old feudal style charged the swedes with
lances, plumes and feathers. The scarred veterans of BanÚrs army massacred
them without any effort. After the "battle" the swedes marshed
away.

In the warm summer BanÚr started to feel frustration. Without siege
guns he couldnt seize the strongpoints and thus he could not excercise any
occupation of Bohemia except exactly were the army was. The Bohemians who to
part were protestants were not very enthusiastic about the swedes and
offered little help. BanÚr decided that if he couldnt use Bohemia neither
should the emperor. A fire storm was unleashed on the country. Swedish corps
crisscrossed Bohemia looting and burning. Some broke into Mńhren, Schlesia
and Saxony as well. Before the war the flourishing Bohemia had 738 towns, 34
000 villages and 3 000 000 inhabitants. When it ended 230 towns, 6000
villages and 800 000 inhabitants remained. The word "swede" became
synonymous with bandit, robber, thief and murderer. Even until this century
the south german and chzech children has heard rhymes like "Bet
kindchen, bet. Morgen kommt der schwed" or the mothers have scared them
with Axel Oxenstierna. The time of the war became known as the "time of
the swedes".

Much of this was due to the inability of the commanders to control
their armies. The soldiers were mostly in it for profit and following the
armis of both sides were large band of marauders, former soldiers and
deserters who cared little for the commanders goals or plans. When the
supply situation failed in an army more joined these bands and if the army
had success they joined the units again. At times the commanders felt
an urge to seek out and destroy the wandering maurauders without the proper
papers, but the problem was impossible to deal effectively with. The terror
unleashed over Bohemia was more than this howver. It was an official policy
of denying the enemy his supply base. This combined terror of planned
destruction and random looting has left lasting memories in these parts of
Germany. The massacring of the population that occured from time to time was
never a part of a policy however. That didnt occur until the illuminated and
developed 20th century. The destruction was more like what happens when a
giant, grey in arms, wanders about not caring to much were he sets his feet.
At times the giant becomes angered and starts to stomp and kick vigourosly
just because he feels like it. This not only destroyed the enemies supply
base but also increased political pressure on the emperor. That the
civilians suffered was just an unavoidabe consequense. Not a goal in itself.

The new emperor, Ferdinand III, who had taken over when his father,
Ferdinand II, died two years earlier was gifted where his father had been
fanatical. He was genuinly agonized by the terror that fell over his lands.
He lacked the means to defeat BanÚr for a long time, a large scale raid
into Livland led by an english colonel named Booth had failed to distract
BanÚr. His peaceofferings were turned down by the swedes. They wernt
enough. By tapping the last recources the emperor managed to raise yet a new
army of 30 000 men. The incompetent Gallas was fired to increase the odds of
a victory and the command was given to the italian veteran Piccolomini. The
new imperial commander maneuvered catiously and when the logistical supplies
were exhausted in Bohemia BanÚr pulled out in the late winter of 1640. When
he crossed the Elbe 2000 wagons of grain were poured into the river. BanÚr
coudnt bring it with him and neither Piccolomini and the starving population
were to have it if he couldnt. Looking for new foraging opportunitys the
swedes marsched west, then north. The big wheel seemed to be about to
complete another turn. South, then north and then south and north again.
Piccolomini followed, content that the swedes left without a fight.

BanÚr, ill in fever again, tried to get the french and their
lethargic allies to move. The swedes hadnt seen anything of them during
their campaign in the enemies heartlands. Duke Bernard had died of typhoid
during the winter at the age of 35 but considerable part of the Rhineland
was still under control of his men. The one who managed to enlist this bunch
of unruly wardogs had gained 10 000 experienced mercenaries who had made war
the lifestyle. The Bernadines, as they beacme known as, didnt care for whom
they fought, where or why. All parties tried to purchase their help. Even
Prague came with offers. In the end it was Paris that with the help of a
rain of bribes, promises of pensions, eightfolded inceases in wages, managed
to tie the infamous and unreliable army to their forces. In the last days of
1639 the french, with the Bernadines, had finally started to move into
Germany. The timing was excellent.

Earlier the french had had their hands full with the spanish but these
had suffered a series of serious setbacks lately. The dutch had requonquered
the fortress Breda and the fall of Breisach to Bernard the year before meant
that the spanish were unable to reinforce the dutch front by land since the
spanish road along the Rhine had been cut. It became even worse when the
dutch navy crushed the spanish fleet outside Dover in a battle that was as
disastrous as the destruction of the great armada 50 years earlier. In Spain
itself civil unrest was ripe and rumors of impending revolutions were
common. Spain could not assist the emperor. BanÚr had managed to point the
very suitable opportunity for uniting their armeis and defeating the emperor
out to the french.

The sight of the french reinforced by the Bernadines moving to unite
with the swedes sent shivers through the german princes. Two of them, the
opportunist count Georg of Lueneburg and the countess Amalia Elisabeth of
Hessen both abandoned their long tradition of neutral meandering and joined
with the enemies of the emperor. On the sixth of May 1640 the armies united
outside the town Erfurt in central Germany. After the usual diplomatic
excessive mutual praising and selfadmiration of the time, the new army
consisted of 32 000 men. Now, if ever, the enemy was to be defeated.
Piccolominis army had shrunk to 10 000 men. For the first time since
N÷rdlingen six years earlier the swedes and their allies outnumbered the
enemy. At the end of 1637 a final imperial victory seemed inavoidable
but now a large allied army stood in central Germany. The wheel kept on
turning and there seemed to no end to the war. The emperor couldt hope for
any help from Spain either. The string of defeats had continued and the
armada sent to recapture Brasil from the dutch had been destroyed outside
Recife in a four day battle. Finally the portugese had rebelled and the duke
of Briganza proclaimed himself as king of Portugal. No, the spain could not
assist the emperor. Spain was slowly sinking from Europes leading nation
into a second rate nation due to an uneducated, parastic aristocracy, a
state deep in debt and a withering industry and a weak agriculture.
The leadership did not react but closed their eyes and let it happen.

A political pamphlett "Dissertatio de ratione status in
imperio Romano-Germanico" became an even more dangerous event than
the enemies joining of forces. It became widespread and clearly told how the
Hapsburgers had misused their throne and pointed out the constitutional
weakness of the empire. It had an enourmus impact in Germany and increasing
numbers voiced their opinion for a compromise with the enemy. In an attempt
to rally support for his cause the emperor decided to summon to a meeting
with the german reichstag.

In the mean time the war went on. BanÚrs army of 32 000 left Erfurt
on the seventh of May. Piccolomini was the be beaten soundly. Problems arose
immidietly however. BanÚr being used to run the army after his own head
found that the army consisted of five contingents (swedes, french,
lueneburgers, the hessians and the always complaining bernadines) with
radically different goals with the operations and these now had to be
coordinated. That was partly why the war was so hard to end. With so many
participants that all wanted their share the number of variables was
staggering. A miniature version of this phenomena soon started to effect
BanÚrs command.

The choleric and illtempered BanÚr was despite his military genious
not very well suited to the role of diplomat. He wanted to go southeast into
the German heartlands to defeat the enemy once and for all and above all to
drain the enemies supplybase dry. The hessians on the other hand preferred
to split the army so that they with the french could make war on the spanish
in Holland. The lueneburgers were terrified of that since it meant that tens
of thousands of swedes would turn north into Lueneburg for supplies if the
army became weaker. The french did not like to stray to far from the Rhine
with its important borderareas. Add to that that they had signed a secret
treaty with the bavarians, the enemy!, and preffered not to go into Bavaria.
The bernadines didnt care for any alternative, as long as loot and pay and
good quarters were available they could go anywhere. So they supported the
one promising them the most of these neccecities.

The result was an endless series of staffmeetings where it was argued,
quarreled and discussed while the furious and frustrated BanÚr swore and
threw his arms in the air in dispair in impotent rage. As if it wasnt hard
enough to get the quarrelsome generals to pull in the same direction the
army was harassed by wigwearing envoyes from different governments as well,
who pulled invisible strings and suggested how the campaign really should be
conducted. BanÚrs army that earlier had resambled a scrawny and
starved but fierce and dangerous wolf had been transformed into a humungus
prehistoric beast that carried an impressive array of fangs but moved with great
difficulty only, lazily beating its tail. Piccolomini was also a better
general than Gallas, that may not say so much considering Gallas geuine
incompetence, but he was good enough to make all hope of fast and easy
victories disappear. The imperials and leaugers had been reinforced by a
bavarian corps but still maneuvered with caution. As soon as BanÚr came
within striking distance he entrenched and all movement ceased. A new
hungerwar started. The armies moved some distance to try and find better
postions but remained roughly around Saalfeld. The imperials well entrenched
and BanÚr continusly trying to lure them into a battle on the field it
became a summer of skirmishes and starvation. A miserable war to the
soldiers. Considering that both armies combined consisted of 130 000 people
including accompanying civilans (half that number!) and the war was
conducted in an area well depleted since former campaigns it was hard, if
not impossible, to find logistical support.

The officers used their own money to pay for the support of the troops
but little was gained. Even gold lost its value since there was nothing to
buy. The higher command complained that there was no wine to be found so
they had to settle with water! Maybe the excessive drinking ceased for some
time at least. The summer was wet and cold that made roads disappear into
mud and disease increase. The harvest matured slowly to the commanders
frustration and starvation was intense. Without food, in constantly wet
clothes struggling in mud to the ancles the epidemics took thousands of
soldiers while thousands of others deserted. BanÚrs own wife died and while
he grieved and wept heavily he did not grieve long. Two weeks later he
started courting and married a sixteen old noble girl in September. To his
disappointment (his sexual urges were great) she did not acompany the army. The spirit in the army
plummeted and mutiny was feared. At Chemnitz Vństg÷ta cavalry that
garrisoned the town with 300 men had been attacked by the duke Edvard of
Braganza wth 8000 men and after five days of continous action repelling the
assaults the soldiers spirits were so low that surrender was inavoidable.
The defenders were sent north to Pommerania. Their commander Printz was
discharged and the men brought home to Sweden. Pritz made a comeback as
governor of the swedish colony in north america later however.

The bernadines rebelled but were subdued with more money while the
hessians and lueneburgers were so close to home that in June only a third
remained. The rest had deserted. Guardduty became a serious problem with so
few remaining. When imperial forces started to threaten their homelands even
the officers left to look after their homes and soon many companies had a
fiscal existance only. In many cases the only thing that remained was the
color left behind. When the autumn approached and the rainy summer turned
into a windy and even more rainy season the opponents stood 200 km from
their starting positions. Neither had achieved anything. The big wheel had
kept on turning, the armies had been suffered heavily from attrition and a
considerabe part lay in shallow graves. It had been a senseless waste of
human life and BanÚr knew it. Sad and tired he wrote that the campaign of
1640 was the worst he had seen. The army moved to the northwest to
winterquarters were BanÚr and his generals lost themselves in orgies of
food and wine.